Hello gang! This is artist Caitlin here, popping in
for a special tutorial inspired by my little girl,
Olive! Working on embroidery designs, I’ve noticed that
4"x4" versions are perfect for toddler clothes. I wanted
to create a cute back border design, that looked like a
larger pattern on Olive’s hoodie, and take the cuteness
to a whole new level. She is wearing 2T clothes, and the
size is just right for using 4"x4" embroidery designs.
There are so many great
light-stitching designs on Urban Threads that can be
overlapped and collaged together to make a larger
embroidered area, but the
kitty design used in this tutorial is especially
designed to overlap easily to create one long pattern.

So, to make this repeating pattern hoodie, you’re going
to need:

Light-stitching embroidery design. This
Curious Kitties Collage works perfectly for
creating a pattern, but you can create a similar
effect with many different open, running stitch
designs.

Hoodie. This works great on toddler sizes, but could
be used on any hoodie with enough repeats. (Or any
item that needs a repeating border of embroidery!)

Cutaway stabilizer -- a sheer mesh cutaway such as
Sulky Soft 'n' Sheer or Floriani No Show Mesh is
great with light-stitching designs like this one.

You can use your printed templates to eyeball the
placement, but for a more precise effect, try the
following alignment technique...

With a piece of masking tape, mark a horizontal line
across the back of the hoodie where you would like the
center of your designs to fall. Then take a ruler, and
mark a straight line over the tape. I used the bottom
edge of the hoodie as a general guide for the horizontal
line.

Using your template, mark the center of the middle
embroidery design on the tape. For the
3.86" version of the design, measure and mark 3 1/2
inches to the left, and then to the right of the center
dot. These will be the center points for each design.
The designs will overlap slightly at this distance and
look great as a seamless pattern.

For the
4.84" version of the design, leave 4 1/2 inches
between center points. For the
5.87" version of the design, leave 5 3/8 inches
between center points.

Place a piece of tape vertically over each spot your
mark, and draw a perpendicular line up from each center,
like shown. A ruler helps keep these lines straight!

These will give you the guides of where to align the
fabric in your embroidery hoop, and to keep everything
even as the fabric shifts around during sewing and
hooping.

Spray a large piece of sheer mesh cutaway stabilizer,
and stick it to the back of the whole area to be sewn.
Hoop up the fabric and stabilizer tightly together, so
that the hoop is centered over that center cross.

Once everything is set up, tear away the middle tape
markers and stitch your first design.

With the first design done, I then hooped up my left
side, removed the tape, and stitched the design again.

A small amount of embroidery will overlap, and that’s
great! You can double check the placement of the design
using your printed template as you go if you like.

Finally, hoop up the right side, remove the tape, and
sew! You now have an repeating border of adorable
kitties.

If you’re working on a larger hoodie or other item, just
keep repeating this overlap pattern until you get as
many repeats as you want. Three is all that’s needed on
a small hoodie like this, but an adult might need 5 or
more.

You can add an extra touch of cuteness by sewing some
small kitties onto the front pockets! Each kitty from
this design is
also available individually, for convenience.

Use your seam ripper to open the seams on the top and
bottom of the pockets. Leave the stitching on the side
attached to the zipper.

Place your printed template of your single kitty design
on the pocket.

Cut a large square of the sheer mesh cutaway stabilizer
big enough to cover your hoop, with some extra around
the edges. Then spray the back of your pocket liberally
with temporary spray adhesive, and smooth it onto the
center of your stabilizer square. You can also use pins
to keep it in place -- just make sure they won't be in
the way of the embroidery.

Carefully hoop the pocket and stabilizer, keeping the
zipper out of the way of the design. It's OK if most of
the pocket is be floating in the hoop -- this light
design will still work great.

You can do this on both hoodie pockets if you wish!

When all your stitching is done, pin the pockets back
onto the front of the hoodie, and stitch the top and
bottom edges back in place with a sewing machine or by
hand. Don’t sew over the pocket opening!